Top Tips for Starting a Juice & Smoothie Bar From A Fruit Juice Ingredient Supplier

At one time, we had a pub on every corner, but tastes have changed and many of these have been replaced by coffee shops. Another addition to the high street is the juice and smoothie bar, where people who are more health conscious can get a quick fix of liquid goodness. But how do you go about starting one of these?

Consider the location

The first thing to think about is the location. You want a high traffic area that is going to have your ideal clients walking through it – for example, you want daytime traffic as that’s when people tend to drink juices and smoothies. If it is a popular nightlife area, you are less likely to find your customers (unless you are putting something stronger in the smoothie!)

Fitness and health clubs are another option for your location or close to them. Health club juice bars say 15-25% of club users will stop for a drink as these are people who are already interested in the benefits of the products that you are offering.

Wherever you choose, make sure the location offers plenty of viewing areas – people love to see their drinks being made. Places to display fresh products is also a good idea so people can select exactly which apple or banana they want in their drink.

Build the menu and suppliers list

Alongside location, the other big consideration is your menu. What kind of drinks will you offer and what equipment will you need to make them? High powered blenders are a compulsory part of smoothie making and a good juicing set up will also be needed. Also, consider swapping up to seasonal products – can you add warm drinks to your menu in winter, for example?

The other thing to look at its suppliers. Having good suppliers can make or break your business – you need reliable suppliers with great quality products and prices that let you make money from your creations. Look at a fruit juice ingredient supplier, fruit supplier and also for someone who can offer equipment supply such as cups, mugs and straws.

If you are selling prepared juices, drinks or sauces then we can help you with the complete process for this; from idea to bottle. We can create the product and bottle or can it for you as well. We can pack into either HDPE or PET and can provide hot or cold filled options. We can provide quantities in small and flexible runs and fill from one shot to one litre sizes.

We can even sleeve or label the products for you. This can be a fantastic option and up-sell for you to your customers to purchase the pre-prepared product, not just the one you make at the time of sale!

Check out licensing and insurance

You need to make sure you look into licensing when you have an idea of your location – this will be done through the local authority. You will also need to look at food premises approval even though you are serving drinks and make sure you cover all of your food safety responsibilities.

Insurance is something you will need to have. Public liability is compulsory in case something relating to your business cases an injury to a member of the public. And if you have any staff, then you will need employer’s liability. Work with a business insurance specialist to find out more about what insurance you need and what you may want to consider before you set up.

Marketing and advertising

There are lots of ways to market your new business and you want to start exploring these long before you open up. That way you can build some hype around your new bar and make sure people are queuing up on opening day to grab one of your tasty new drinks.

Online advertising is also important even though you are creating a high street store. Things like a Facebook Page can help grow awareness of your business and you can target local Facebook groups to tell them about what you are doing. People are often keen to support local businesses – when they know they exist.

Set up for success

Starting a business is always risky and a juice and smoothie bar is no different. But if you put the right foundations in place then you set up for successes and increase your chances of getting it.

There is our advice, from a fruit juice ingredient supplier, feel free if you want to get in touch for any more information or just learn more about us here.